EL CENTRO — As Imperial County’s comprehensive classification and compensation study enters its final stages, union members frustrated by stalled wage negotiations are preparing to demonstrate outside the County Administration Center on July 1.
Representatives of Teamsters Local 542, which represents clerical, technical, trades, and other county employees, will gather between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, July 1, ahead of the Board of Supervisors’ regularly scheduled meeting, according to Teamsters Business Agent Ruth Duarte. The demonstration comes as the union’s current contract expires June 30, with additional negotiations expected to take place with the county this week.
Duarte confirmed that while employees are preparing to strike, the necessary paperwork to formalize a strike has not yet been completed. For now, union members plan to demonstrate publicly and deliver comments to the board before the closed session meeting Tuesday morning.
The demonstration coincides with ongoing discussions about employee compensation, a central issue in the union’s contract negotiations and a primary focus of the county’s nearly two-year compensation study.
During the board’s June 17 meeting, Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. — the consultant hired to conduct the countywide classification and compensation study — provided an update on the project’s status and upcoming deliverables.
“We are really entering the kind of the final deliverable stage of the project,” said Georg Krammer, Gallagher’s lead on the study. “The project is designed to be conducted in two phases, phase one being a comprehensive classification study … and then phase two of the project to conduct a total compensation study, which means base salaries plus benefits to then look at the market competitiveness of the county’s compensation plan.”
The study covers all of the county’s approximately 2,185 employees across 447 classifications. According to Krammer, Gallagher is finalizing updated job classifications and compensation recommendations, which are expected to be delivered to the county by the end of July.
Gallagher’s presentation outlined the process used to analyze county positions, which included employee participation through questionnaires, supervisor and employee interviews, and market analysis of comparable agencies. Krammer explained that the goal is to provide the county with clear, consistent job classifications and recommendations for pay adjustments based on market data.
One of the issues identified during the study is that the county’s current classification system is outdated and, in some cases, contributes to pay inequities.
“One of the things that happens when there are multiple levels in any sort of an individual … career ladder is that the distinctions between levels become unclear or a bit murky,” Krammer said. “It makes it really hard to manage a system like that … to have meaningful conversations with employees about why they are or are not being promoted.”
Krammer also pointed to the county’s reliance on a “legacy factor evaluation system,” which focus on internal comparisons rather than market data when setting salaries. Gallagher’s study shifts the county toward a “whole job analysis” approach, relying more heavily on labor market comparisons to determine appropriate pay ranges.
Supervisor Jesus Escobar stressed the importance of not only receiving the study results but developing a clear plan to implement the findings in a way that addresses pay concerns.
“When we originally approved this class and comp study, if I remember correctly, one of the key ingredients was implementation. And I did not see that word throughout the presentation,” Escobar said. “If we are under market by X number of dollars, but we only have Y number of dollars to implement, we’re gonna have to divvy up that Y number in the most fair and equitable manner.”
Krammer responded that Gallagher will work with county staff to develop implementation options based on the study’s findings, including potential multi-year plans to address compensation gaps.
“We usually find that there’s a range where some positions are more significantly below market, others may actually be above market,” Krammer said. “How do you then use that market data to implement? Part of the conversation will be a little bit of a sort of a philosophical question … does the County of Imperial potentially want to consider other measurements or percentile in the market?”
Escobar also requested clear deadlines for the remaining deliverables.
“There’s multiple, obviously, steps, some of which you don’t control … but I would like to see actual deliverable dates from Gallagher as far as the draft is concerned, as far as the final compensation is concerned,” Escobar said.
Krammer indicated the study is expected to be completed by the end of July, though discussions around implementation and final reports may continue beyond that date.
Supervisor Martha Cardenas-Singh said that county employees have been asking similar questions about how and when the study’s recommendations will be implemented.
“That has been an ongoing question in regards to what the implementation process would look like based on market value,” Cardenas-Singh said. “Other questions that are also being asked is the new scale that would come into place and collapsing steps.”
The June 17 meeting also included a question submitted on behalf of Teamsters representatives Flavio Grijalva and Ruth Duarte, who were unable to stay for the compensation study presentation. Cardenas-Singh read their question during the public comment period.
“Upon being hired, employees are given a job description for their title,” Cardenas-Singh read. “From there, we know that most employees end up doing more work under ‘other duties as assigned.’ Does Gallagher also look at the current job description compared to the (questionnaires) the employees fill out in order to ascertain the total work being done in addition to the original job description to get a more accurate rate for their position?”
Krammer confirmed that Gallagher evaluates employees’ actual duties and compares them to existing job descriptions as part of the classification analysis.
“The short answer is yes, absolutely,” Krammer said. “That’s part of the goal of any classification study … to see where we may need to make changes.”
He explained that those changes could result in no change to classification, a title change, or a full reclassification, depending on the work being performed.
Duarte, who has spoken publicly at recent board meetings, has repeatedly cited low wages for many county employees as a key concern in negotiations. County employees represented by the Teamsters earn between $16.50 and $28 an hour, with many reporting they earn less than workers in fast-food jobs.
While the classification and compensation study provides data on appropriate pay levels, union representatives have argued that immediate action is needed to address pay disparities and rising costs of living.
As the county prepares to receive Gallagher’s final reports in the coming weeks, labor negotiations are expected to continue. According to union leadership, the county is scheduled to present a counter-proposal on July 1, following the union’s demonstration and public comments.
“We’re anxious to see the results,” Supervisor Peggy Price said.
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